Sixteen seconds.

That's how long it took for an "explosive, mass brawl" to erupt between the rival gangs Tribesmen and Mongrel Mob members outside the Christchurch Justice Precinct, leaving blood splattered on the footpath.

Eleven Tribesmen members are being sentenced at the Christchurch District Court, where they assaulted five Mongrel Mob members outside the building on July 30, 2020.

According to the summary of facts, 17 Tribesmen members on July 30 2020 went to support their president Elder Browne, who was appearing in court.

CCVT footage showed the Tribesmen members leaving the Justice Precinct and outside five Mongrel Mob members were sitting on planter boxes.

One Mongrel Mob member made a "gesture" to the Tribesmen, causing a fight to erupt.

It all happened within 16 seconds of the first Tribesmen gang member stepping out the court door.

The fight lasted no longer than half a minute before court security staff intervened.

Punches were thrown as well as kicks, and kneeing with one Mongrel Mob member's head stomped on several times.

One sustained injuries to their face including swelling and bruising and appeared "disorientated" getting up off the ground to walk away.

With so many defendants involved in the brawl, Christchurch District Court Judge Gerard Lynch has split the sentencing into three slots based on the seriousness of the offending.

At 10am Baden Clunie, Richard Edwards, Harley Tapine and Wilson Ruawhare appeared on a raft of assault charges including injuring with intent to injure, assault with intent to injure and common assault.

Crown Prosecutor Sean Mallet described the fight as a "mass brawl" where Mongrel Mob members were clearly outnumbered by roughly one to five.

Mallett said the community needs to be protected from this type of behaviour and the sentencing needs to mark society's condemnation of gang violence in broad daylight in a public area.

Clunie's lawyer Allister Davis requested a community detention sentence for Clunie as home detention would impact his job as a scaffolder, where she said he has become a "hard-working" employee.

Davis said following the brawl Clunie has been on electronically monitored bail and has not breached these terms or reoffended. She also said Clunie watched the fight unfold from a distance on the other side of the road.

Edwards' lawyer Serina Bailey said while Edwards has a history of youth offending, this has lessened over time as he has got older and taken on responsibilities as a parent.

She said although Edwards had reoffended with a drink driving charge, he had since engaged with rehabilitation programmes and asked the judge to consider community detention and a community work sentence.

Tapine's lawyer, Rahul George, requested a combination of community detention with a "lengthy term" of intensive supervision.

George asked the judge to take into account Tapine's upbringing with drugs, alcohol and gang involvement and how that has affected him today.

However, Judge Lynch pushed back and said why should one group get credit for bad behaviour when there are other members of society that face similar challenges and don't go on to offend in the same way.

Ruawhare's lawyer Trudi Aickin asked the judge to take into account Ruawhare's anxiety when imposing a sentence.

She said he had recently had a judge-alone trial on a driving matter where sentencing was based on his anxiety. She also accepted that home detention would be a starting point for his involvement.

Judge Lynch said while the brawl was "explosive" and "lawless" occurring outside a place where the law is upheld, it was clear that it wasn't planned.

"Two gangs fought which is what rival gangs do from time to time."

The aggravating factors were that it was an unprovoked attack and the vulnerability of the victims who were clearly outnumbered and fighting in a public place.

Ruawhare received eight months home detention, Edwards received nine months home detention and Tapine received nine months home detention while Clunie received three months home detention.

The second group of men to appear was Vincent Olsen, Alexander Powell, Hendrix Crichton-Weke-Tuhimata and Dukie Montgomery, who had his sentencing adjourned to November 30.

They faced similar charges of assault with intent to injure.

Abbie Hollingworth representing Olsen asked the judge to take into account his immediate guilty plea and the fact that he was 23 at the time of the incident. She said he is aiming to get back into employment and is willing to take rehabilitative steps.

Kiran Paima represented Powell and asked for a sentence of community detention due to an injury he was recovering from sustained in a motorbike accident.

Shawn McManus represented Crichton-Weke-Tuhimata who was in custody for previous offending in Hamilton.

Olsen received a sentence of three months of community detention and 12 months of intensive supervision while Powell received two months of community detention and nine months of supervision.

Due to Crichton-Weketuhimata's previous offending he was the only one that received a sentence of imprisonment of 12 months.

The next three men will appear this afternoon for sentencing.